Rashad Evans in underrated. He is a great striker with great wrestling skills. He is a force to be reckoned with in the UFC. He is now the UFC light heavyweight champ and maybe the best light heavyweight in the world. He boasts wins over Michael Bisping, Chuck Liddell, and Forrest Griffin.

Forrest Griffin will be back, but I do not know who he will face. If Shogun beats Mark Coleman there could be a re-match.

I never expected Nogueira to get beat so badly. Mir tore him a new one. Nog didn’t show up. Maybe he is past his prime. Mir looke dreally good though. Now we get the Mir vs. Lesnar re-match.

I didn’t expect Rampage to KO Wanderlei either. It looks like Rampage could get a title shot.

C.B. Dolloway looked impressive in his win over a very good Mike Massenzio. He showed good wrestling, good striking and good submission defense.

Cheick Kongo really impressed in his vicious TKO over Al-Turk

You say Yushin, I say Okami. Yushin… (Okami). Okami is deserving number one contender now that he walked through Dean Lister

Pat Barry has really good kicks and is a force in the heavyweight division

Antoni Hardonk keeps winning. He may move up some rankings

Matt Hamill really impressed and probably knocked Reese Andy out of the UFC along with Dan Evensen, Ryo Chonan and Mike Wessel

UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 is one of the best cards of the year on paper. This card features what many consider to be 3 super fights. This card is sure to draw a good crowd and good pay per view numbers. Also, this will end 2008 with a bang and the outcomes of these fights will dictate many key match-ups in 2009, including Brock Lesnar’s next opponent, possibly Anderson Silva’s next opponent at 205 lbs, and possibly the next contender at 205 lbs.

Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans

Forrest Griffin

vs.

Rashad Evans

Nickname

Sugar

1

MMA Blog Rank

6

205 Lbs.

Weight Class

205 Lbs.

16-4 (7-2 UFC)

Record

12-0-1 (7-0 UFC)

This fight will be Forrest Griffin’s first title defense and a bout between the winner of the Ultimate Fighter 1 and the winner of the Ultimate Fighter 2. Rashad is sort of a surprise number one contender here. He earned the title shot with his highlight reel KO of Chuck Liddell. Evans is an undefeated fighter with a solid wrestling pedigree and very impressive striking. Forrest Griffin is already a future UFC hall of famer and one of the biggest stars. He relishes being the undersog. He was the underdog against Shogun. He was the underdog against Rampage. Forrest works as hard as anyone in the sport. Forrest is also known for his incredible heart. This is a very interesting match up style wise for me. Forrest will stand and trade, but Rashad probably has the striking advantage (just ask Chuck Liddell and Sean Salmon). The heart and toughness advantage would go to Forrest. The wrestling advantage would go to Rashad, but the submissions advantage would go to Forrest. Forrest will also have a slight size and reach advantage over Rashad. Quite honestly I think this is a bad match up for Forrest. I look for Rashad to use his wrestling to keep the fight standing or to scramble to his feet. I also think that he may clip Forrest with a good shot. However, he better watch for those leg kicks which devastated Ramapge. Forrest would have to have the conditioning advantage. If he is smart he will want to take Rashad past round 3. Forrest is a proverbial “cardio machine”. We saw Forrest win against Shogun due to his cardio. This could be the achilles heel for Evans. I think it is highly possible he will gas and that is Forrest’s best chance at winning. Some people speculate that Rashad could be distracted due to the recent birth of a child. However, I think that Rashad’s training with the legendary Greg Jackson will more than cover that possible distraction. I expect Rashad to have a great game plan. Hidden within this fight is a match up between two great camps Evans and Team Jackson and Griffin and Xtreme Couture. Whoever has the better game plan will win. It may be scary to say, but I do not know if we have seen the best of either of these guys yet. I think rashad has more raw talent, but Forrest has the heart of a champion. With that said, I pick Rashad to win by TKO in round 3 to become the new UFC light heavyweight champion.

I am just gonna call this one the way I see it. Nogueira is a legend in the sport. He is a near consensus number 2 heavyweight in the world. He has fought the best in the world. He is nearly impossible to knockout or submit. He has the best heart in MMA. Frank Mir has had good days. He is a former UFC heavyweight champ. He has solid all around skills and good ground skills. However, I do not think Mir is near the calibur of Nogueira. The two Ultimate fighter coaches will pair off for the interim heavyweight title and a chance to fight Brock Lesnar sometime in 2009. Nogueira holds the interim title and is the first person to be PRIDE and UFC champ. This fight gained exposure through season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter. Nogueira was the clear fan favorite of the coaches. In fact, Mir may have entered the reality show as the fan favorite, but the season ended with Nogueira being by far the favorite coach and becoming endeared by fans. At the end of the season of TUF, I posted a poll on MMABlog asking about the favorite coach and 88% of the 200 people polled said Nogueira was their favorite coach over Mir. I say that to say that Nogueira will be a fan favorite in Mir’s hometown. In fact I cannot think of one area where Mir will have an advantage. I think the key is mental. Mir has not been the same since his bike wreck. I also get the sense that he is intimidated by Nogueira. Many interviews Mir speaks of Nog as his hero, as a “Frankenstein”, and as nearly impossible to beat. I think Nogueira wins by submission in round 2…maybe even round 1.

This is the third installment of this particular fight. Two times Wanderlei Silva has destroyed Jackson. For those that have not see the previous two fights they are must sees, check them out here and here. Jackson claims to be in better shape and better prepared than he has ever been. Jackson also claims that Wanderlei is not the same guy he was in his days of dominance in PRIDE. Jackson is coming off of a defeat to Forrest Griffin, a bizzare string of events and eventual arrest, and a change in camps which saw him move to England to train at Wolfslair. Wanderlei is coming off of an impressive win over Keith Jardine at UFC 84. He looks to build on that. The winner of this fight could very well be in line for a title shot.

I do not know what makes this fight different than the previous two. I have to wonder if Wanderlei does not just have Rampage’s number. This fight will answer many questions such as: Is the difference in rules between PRIDE and UFC a big factor? Is Wanderlei past his prime? Is Rampage really better now than he was against Forrest? All I know is that Rampage better avoid the clinch and the knee of Silva. I do not see this fight going the distance. I think that we will see this also be fight of the night. I look for Wanderlei to win by TKO in round 2.

I am not going to defend the placement of this fight on the main card over Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister, but I will tell you this will be a good fight. These guys may not be as high up the middleweight ladder as Okami and Lister and they may not have the same name recognition, but both of these guys are solid prospects.

C.B. Dolloway burst onto the scene in the Ultimate Fighter 7. He was the heavy favorite throughout the whole season, but was upset in the semi-finals by Amir Sadollah. However, he was given a second chance following the booting of Jesse Taylor. C.B. beta Tim Credeur handily to earn a second crack at Sadollah for the TUF title. C.B. lost int he same way to Amir int he finale. However, he bounced back with a highlight reel submission of Jesse Taylor by way of peruvian necktie a submission that many consider a submission of the year candidate. C.B. is an accomplished wrestler out of Arizona State University who trains at Arizona Combat Sports with other MMA stars like TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader, WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner, and WEC welterweight champ Carlos Condit.

Mike Massenzio is 1-0 in the UFC. He won is his UFC debut quickly over UFC vet Drew McFedries. He sunk in a kimura forcing McFedries to tap. Massenzio is a very good prospect who is very good on the ground. Massenzio is one of the fighters the UFC picked up from the now defunct IFL.

The question for me on this one is can C.B. avoid Massenzio’s submissions. He couldn’t avoid Amir’s. C.B. may elect to keep the fight standing if he can. He also may want to work some ground and pound. A lot of people like Mike Massenzio in this fight. However, I think C.B. is going to prove too good standing and too strong on the ground. I pick C.B. to win by unanimous decision.

Cheick Kongo vs. Mustapha Al Turk

Cheick Kongo

vs.

Mustapha Al-Turk

Nickname

5

MMA Blog Rank

12

Heavyweight

Weight Class

Heavyweight

12-4-1 (5-2 UFC)

Record

6-3 (0-0 UFC)

This fight will be the first fight to air on the main card. Cheick Kongo may be one the most inconsistent fighters in the UFC. He beats Cro Cop, but eats a loss to Heath Herring. I do think Kongo is one of the top 10-15 heavyweights out there, but he needs a big win. Kongo wants a title shot. He makes no bones about it. A win here may inch him closer, but it won’t put him next in line. He still has guys like Carwin, Gonzaga, and Couture ahead of him. However, rumor has it that a win here could garner him a fight between former UFC fighter Jeff Monson.

Al Turk is the former Cage Rage hevayweight champion. I am sure Al Turk would like to get out of here unscathed. Either way we could see Al Turk return at UFC 95 in England against new heavyweight signee Neil Grove. Al Turk seems to be a decent striker, but I do not know if he can hang with Kongo.

I pick Kongo by unanimous decision.

The Undercard:

Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister

Lister is a world calss grappler and jiu jitsu player. Okami is a top 3 middleweight in the world. Many people (including me) think Okami is deserving of a title shot. If Okami beats Lister it will be hard to withhold a title shot from him. There are two reasons Okami has not gotten that shot. First, he is not very marketable. Second, he is coming off of an injury. He would have gotten the shot over Cote, but an injury slowed Okami. Tehre are tons of people in line at 185 lbs. including Thales Leites, Nate Marquardt, Michael Bisping, and Demian Maia. I believe Lister could submit Okami, but I have to pick Okami to win this by decision.

·The status of Fabricio Werdum is unknown.Rumors circulated that he was released from his UFC contract following a breakdown in contract negotiations.Then it was reported that Werdum was not leaving the UFC.If he stays he is a serious contender.I hope the UFC would consider this and want to keep him around

·The status of ProElite is uncertain, and I mention this because the UFC has the potential to sign a couple of good fighters from the EliteXC heavyweight division such as Brett Rogers and Dave Herman.It looked like Antonio Silva will head to Sengoku and Kimbo Slice, well….who cares!

·It is time for Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez to get more exposure and fight the best.They are real threats to Brock’s belt.

·A 2009 bout between Lesnar and the winner of the Mir vs. Nogueira fight is exciting

·We are hoping Randy Couture has a few fights left in the tank, and they probably will be at Heavyweight, but don’t expect him to fight no name fighters.

·Not sure where Mark Coleman fits into the heavyweight picture seeing as how he will be fighting Shogun at light heavyweight

Below I posted my heavyweight rankings. My other rankings will be posted today as well. Certainly the rankings could change a litte bit following UFC 90. I’d love to hear your debate and arguments as these rankings are somewhat subjective.

It looks like Cain Velasquz has been forced to withdraw from his fight with Al-Turk at UFC Fight Night 16 and now the Former Cage Rage Heavyweight Champ, Al-Turk will face Frenchman heavyweight Cheick Kongo at UFC 92. This from MMAweekly.com

According to his coach and manager Alexis Demetriades, it appears that the fight is off due to injury. “We got word from Joe Silva that Velazquez has pulled out due to injury and will be undergoing knee surgery to fix it. It’s a shame as we had a strategy in place and we were all set to go.”

The announcement of Velazquez withdrawing from the fight will leave many disappointed as the fight guaranteed fireworks. All is not lost, as a replacement has been found in tough Frenchman Cheick Kongo, who is coming off a TKO win over Dan Evensen at UFC 87 in Minneapolis.

“We were offered Kongo by Joe and we accepted the fight. We were just waiting for Kongo to get his signed bout agreement back before we could confirm it,” clarified Demetriades, adding, “Everything else is the same. Mus will be fighting on the main card, on pay-per-view. It’s a good fight.”

For his part, Kongo has been in the press recently, announcing an affiliation with The Wolfslair camp in the U.K. in order to refine his training. Part of that training will no doubt be focused on developing his ground game with the excellent wrestling capabilities available in-house at the ‘lair.

The two are expected to fight on the UFC 92 main card on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas.

UFC Heavyweight star Brock Lesnar is reportedly making his return to the octagon in November at UFC 91. His opponent is not yet set, but many assume and expect that it will be Cheick Kongo. That should be a solid match up of two big heavyweights. Lesnar and Kongo are both comong off of wins at UFC 87. Lesnar by far had the mroe impressive win over a more highly touted opponent in Heath Herring. I find it hard to believe anyone would want to face Lesnar. Kongo seems to be a good match up for Lesnar as his stand up is solid, but he is not known for his wrestling or submissions. This card is already rumored to have a lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson and potentially a fight between Wanderlei Silva and Rampage Jackson. Wow.

* I had a good night as far as predictions go, I predicted 8 of 10 correctly.

Submission of the Night: Demian MaiaKnockout of the Night: Rob EmersonFight of the Night: GSP & Jon Fitch ($60k each)

My Disappointment of the Night: Manny Gamburyan or Andre Gusmao

My Thoughts:

The Maia McDonald fight was a great battle in round one especially. Maia is awesome. I am seriously a believer. I think he is a top flight middleweight and can contend for the belt. His submissions are sick, he showed some great ground and pound skills. He stood toe to toe. Maia is a real deal fighter and he will get some respect now.

The Huerta vs. Florian fight was a good fight, but it wasn’t the fight of the year that it was billed to be. I scored the fight 30-27 Florian as did the judges. I believe the score doesn;t show how close the fight was, but Florian was clearly more technical and better all around. Florian is now officially the number one contender in the UFC lightweight divison

Who would have predicted Emerson to KO Manny in 12 seconds? I was disappointed with that.

Cheick Kongo is huge and I am glad his fight made it onto the card. He looked good againt Evensen. He is a top ten maybe top 5 heavyweight. However, why call for the belt after you beat Dan Evensen? Sorry Cheick get in line behind Werdum and beat someone of note. You need some type of win streak to get a title shot.

Brock Lesnar silenced any doubters. He showed he has the skills to fight, and not just fight, but to win. And not just to win, but to win against top tier fighters. He has a lot of areas to improve upon. He need to improve his submission skills. He had a dominant position countless times and did nothing with it. That comes from his wrestling background. He needs to learn something about keeping the mount and dropping elbows. He is strong as an ox. He hits hard. Man was that first punch hard! I thought it was funny in the countdown Herring said, “I have fought bigger, stronger, better and more accomplished wrestlers.” He was wrong. He has not fought a wrestler of Brock’s calibur and strength and Brock dominated him.

I was disappointed with Lesnar’s WWE antics and unsportsman like conduct. He shoved Herring away after round 1. He acted like Herring at the end of the fight. He pointed at him and laughed afterwards. He acted like he was lasoing him. I don’t have a problem with some of that. I know adrenaline gets pumping and I know other fighters do things like act like the are burying a guy or the Barnett throat cut, but Lesnar needs to learn respect for his opponent.

Speaking of respect for opponents how about the St. Pierre vs. Fitch fight. A possible fight of the year candidate. Fitch was out of his league. He looked good a few minutes during the fight, but St. Pierre dominated. The story following this is not as much St. Pierre winning and keeping his belt as it is Fitch’s toughness. Fitch is one tough dude. I gained respect for him. How about the show of class between these two after the fight? That is why I like St. Pierre.

It looks like Penn vs. St. Pierre will indeed happen, hopefully in December. Wow! What a fight that will be.